Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Three R’s (plus 1)

As I stated in a recent post about enjoying and taking advantage of this time of the year and in being a Homebody, I am trying to be grateful for each and every little thing that is in my life.

During the winter months, it is the perfect opportunity for me to reflect, rejoice and rejuvenate.

Reflect over the past year. Pull out and hold tight to the good memories, learn from mistakes and discard the negative. It’s also time to plan for the upcoming Spring and Summer months. It’s the perfect time to daydream about gardens, vacations, family BBQ’s and all the other fun activities we do during the warmer months.

Rejoice in what we have. This is a wonderful time to celebrate family and friendships. Truly embrace the love that surrounds us. Appreciate the ones that fill our day to day lives. Enjoy our homes. Spruce our sanctuaries up. Create that cozy “nest”. And do it with the things we already own.

Rejuvenate our bodies, minds and souls. Rejuvenate your body by something as simple as taking the time to give your feet a good soaking, to massage them with a wonderful cream, paint your toenails, in other words, pamper and take care of your body. Rejuvenate your mind by occasionally stepping away from the fiction books and read a non-fiction book to learn something new. Fill your mind with different types of information. Take a free online class in something you have always wanted to learn. Rejuvenate your soul and check up on your personal spiritual side. Spend a few minutes and simply let the bible fall open and read what is in front of you. Think about it and use what you have just read in your daily life. Let it fill your heart and soul. Find some small way to give back to someone, or some organization that helps others. A wonderful way to thank the Lord for the abundance that you have. It could be as simple as going through your pantry and donating a few cans of food to your local food bank. Go through your closets and pull out items you no longer wear and donate them to a caring thrift store.

I almost feel I should have titled this “The Four R’s” instead of three. Because I also think it is a good time to Reap what you have sown.

We worked hard this past summer to prepare for the long hard winter. We are “Urban Farmer’s”. Money just trickles in during the cold months. Our spring and summer is when we make our income. But, it is also when we have to try our best to plan ahead. Unfortunately, we couldn’t foresee the future and realize we were in for some devastation. But, we still worked hard, tried to plan as best we could and prepare as much as possible. So, I need to respect, honor and enjoy what we did do. Just because ugly events occurred does not mean I should allow them to over shadow all the good and positive things we have.

One thing that we did to prepare for this winter was preserving some food. We were so blessed by the farmer’s at the farmer markets this past year. We had a bounty of fresh veggies and fruits all summer. We had more than we could use on a daily basis. After sharing with family and friends, we preserved as much of this goodness as we could. Knowing it would be greatly appreciated by us in the winter.

Take advantage of this time of the year. A perfect time to reflect, rejoice and rejuvenate.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Diann this is a beautiful post! I too am trying my best to Reflect, Rejoice and Rejuvenate! I'm going to write those down and make sure my week includes time for all of those things! Thanks for joining Gratitude Sunday! hugs,Linda